In Which Time Goes Lightly/Dexter in the Sun

By Sunday afternoon, the temperatures had risen to the mid 40s F, the sun was shining brightly, and suddenly, it felt like spring! Wow! What a difference a few days can make! And suddenly, everything that was frozen solid began to melt. All you could hear outside was the drip-drip-drip of water, along with the occasional glassy crash/tinkle of a falling icicle.

It would be tempting to try to head to the woods to enjoy such weather. But we assessed the side yard, and conditions were still atrocious. It will take a while for what's on the ground to melt. In the meantime, the icy surfaces left by our last storm have become even more dangerous, if that's possible, when coated with a slick layer of surface melt and drip. My husband had already taken a pretty good tumble Friday afternoon in similar conditions, so we were already up on that little trick.

So instead of leaving the house, we opened up the deck doors for the first time this season, and we all went outside! We swept away any remaining damp spots, got out some blankets and some chairs, packed a cooler (like we were really Going Somewhere!), put on some tunes, and settled in on our very own deck to bop along with one of the first perfectly gorgeous, sunny, spring-like afternoons.

Dexter came with us, of course, for he loves a good breath of fresh air. He is an indoor-only cat, except for those times when we carry him outside in our arms, or take him along in one of his cat carriers. And I did both of those things on Sunday afternoon. We sat together, enjoying the day. When he was ready to go in, a couple of quick, light paw-taps (with one of those shockingly white paws) on the carrier latch, and I would take him inside.

In the U.S., we "sprang forward" with the clocks the evening before, which is always confusing. I do not like the time change weekends, or the general disorientation that follows. But I know that I will enjoy having some additional light in the evenings, and that we'll get used to the weirdness in a week or two. For the Tabby, the spring-forward change means that all meals are served an hour earlier, and he is definitely in favor of that!

It does mean, however, that for the first day or two, we walk around in a daze, looking at the light, wondering what time it REALLY is. We have priceless, profoundly meaningful conversations that go like this. . .

Husband, suddenly alert: What TIME is it?
Me, squinting at the clock: 2:45 pm
Him: *raised eyebrows; confused look*
Me, helpfully: Yesterday at this time . . . it was 1:45.
Him: *hands in air; more confused look* What does it all MEAN! WHAT TIME IS IT, really?
Me: I think it means that yesterday, now would have been 1:45. Today, we're supposed to PRETEND that now is actually 2:45. So let's ACT like it's 2:45!
Him: *dismissive head-shake; goes back out and sits in the sun*

You see what I mean? It's like that. It's best if you don't hold on too tightly. And so we sat in the sun, and we forgot about yesterday, and we didn't worry about tomorrow. Instead, we lived for the moment, just enjoying the beautiful now-ness of today, and sharing the happiness of each other's company. And we let time go lightly. Yes, we did, just like in the song:

I let time go lightly when I'm here with you.
I let time go lightly when the day is through.
I keep a watch on time when I've got work to do.
I let time go lightly . . . with you.

The song is Harry Chapin's wonderful tune, Let Time Go Lightly. (And, yes, friends, these just may be words to live by.)

P.S. I forgot to tell you one of the funniest parts of the story! While Dexter was out on the deck with us, we found a piece of gray fuzz on the deck. It looked like fuzz shed from a squirrel tail! And so I let Dexter sniff it - *sniff-sniff-sniff* and before I could wink, he ATE it!! And he was all proud, strutting around, like, "Hey, I ATE A SQUIRREL!"